In late September this year, Visa launched Payment Security Campaign in Armenia, seeking to educate the local population in financial literacy, raise awareness among Visa’s consumers to better protect personal data, and detect frauds and social engineering scams, that involve criminals using various tricks to build trust and get personal information mostly through social media platforms.
News.am decided to talk to Diana Kiguradze, Visa Regional Manager in the Caucasus region, to find out more about the key outcomes of the initiative and the current challenges Armenia faces regarding payment security.
What was the purpose of launching the Payment Security Campaign in Armenia?
Payment security takes one of the leading places, among Visa’s core values and priorities. Over the course of years, we have been assisting our customers worldwide to better protect personal data, ensure safe and secure electronic payments and simplify this process by providing convenient payment solutions. The Payment Security Campaign recently launched in Armenia serves the same purpose. As a leading innovative and technologically advanced global network, Visa firmly believes in the importance of contributing to knowledge sharing and awareness raising in financial literacy. The initiative aims at creating a solid foundation for forming a safe and secure payment environment for each Visa cardholder around the world. Thus, in face of fostering cashless transactions, we decided it was the perfect time for equipping the Armenian population with the sorely needed skills to efficiently and promptly detect fraud and keep their funds safe and secure with Visa.
What were the key outcomes of the campaign?
Primarily, the initiative aimed to contribute to boosting the level of financial literacy among the Armenian population, reaching as many people as possible, but as the campaign progressed, we saw notable results. Excited to share that through our efforts, we reached over a million people. On top of that, we launched an online interactive game for consumers and introduced a virtual financial assistant – Armen, to raise awareness about multiple types of fraud and ways to detect them. Yet another notable result of this initiative is that the game reached about 5,000 people which once again reaffirms the success of the campaign. Additionally, the results of the poll - released during the campaign to assess the ongoing trends in the online payments industry and examine the habits of local consumers, are also noteworthy. The results showed Armenian people’s huge interest in financial literacy and the upward trend of prioritizing online shopping. 55% of respondents prefer to pay by bank card during shopping and 35% of them purchase things online several times a month. The active engagement of the public with up to 1,000 people filling out the poll in just 2 weeks was also a very pleasant surprise.
Besides the aforementioned success, one of the major achievements, I believe, also was an introduction of various techniques to better protect against fraud and social engineering scams. In this regard, within the campaign, with the support of our media partner, we actively provided the people in Armenia with essential and necessary pieces of advice and practical skills in form of simple and comprehensive social media posts. Last but not least, an outstanding achievement was the huge interest and commitment of several Armenian public figures, including both field experts and content creators. They unremittingly supported Visa in spreading the information and contributing to larger audiences’ engagement in the campaign via their social media platforms that count thousands of followers and subscribers. So, overall, I think with the outcomes of our campaign we went beyond expectations.
Within the campaign, in partnership with News.am, Visa published vlogs on payment security and collaborated with the Central Bank of Armenia, Glovo, and ID Bank, what was the purpose of those vlogs?
Yes, we are proud that all five vlogs with the participation of representatives of Visa and our partner companies, gained the huge attention of the public with more than 200 000 viewers watching the videos. Levon Sahakyan, Board member at the Central bank of Armenia, spoke about the country’s main financial institution’s involvement in raising the level of financial literacy among the Armenian population. The CBA’s Consumer Rights Protection and Financial Education Center implements a number of projects in this regard, including the launch of the educational-informative website abcfinance.am and financial service comparison tool called fininfo.am along with carrying out My Finance Month project annually in the country. So, as you can see there are various interesting financial activities taking place in Armenia and we believe that our mission also is to give prominence to such events.
In our vlogs, we also engaged Karen Nalbandyan, Business Development Director at ID Bank, a long-term partner of Visa. Nalbandyan broadly and comprehensively discussed the legislative side of cashless economy development in Armenia, delving into Law on Non-Cash Transactions and the purpose of the new regulations.
Additionally, Glovo, which had been on the Armenian market for over a year as of now, was also involved in our campaign and its General Manager - Oleg Horoshchak, gave a comprehensive overview of the company’s approach toward contactless payments, data protection, and outcomes of their operation in Armenia.
On behalf of Visa, I introduced the campaign and talked about Visa’s global viewpoint on financial literacy, as well as Armenia’s position in payment security and recent trends in this regard. Additionally, Oleksandr Stelmakh, Digital Solutions Head, covered technological advancements, that Visa offers to its consumers across the world, including Tap-to-Phone and tokenization service.
All in all, this series of vlogs served one of the most important purposes of the campaign - providing full information to the Armenian population regarding the experience of global companies in terms of how they operate and ensuring customers' financial security along with highlighting local financial institutions' crucial role in this process.
Based on the latest data provided by the Armenian state authorities, bank card fraud dramatically increased in September 2022, in face of this what is Visa’s role in bringing secure payment methods?
Visa is dedicated to closely working with all of its partners in Armenia, including financial institutions and state bodies. Therefore, achieving results within this and all other campaigns becomes possible through these collaborations and partnerships. I would like to point out the crucial role and support of our close partners, such as the Central Bank of Armenia, in implementing the Payment Security Campaign. In addition, Visa also takes action when the sharing and exchanging of knowledge and practical skills are needed. We also are very much focused on accurate resource allocation, as we are paying huge attention to the effectiveness of the investments we put in each initiative. As a socially responsible network, Visa always closely monitors public engagement and their level of interest in the campaigns. While talking about Visa’s role in bringing secure payment methods, I must mention that in just a year Visa welcomed Apple Pay and Google Pay in Armenia together with our partner banks and introduced and launched Visa Tap-to-Phone service to drive acceptance in the country.
What are the key payment trends Visa has been observing throughout the years in Armenia?
There is a clear trend of an increase in online payments. Year by year, more people choose simpler and more convenient ways of paying and being paid. Based on Visa’s data, 8 out of 10 transactions in Armenia are contactless, these numbers show an upward trend of cashless economy development in the country and the population’s readiness to further evolve in this direction. Thus, cash digitalization in Armenia can be considered a current key trend. We expect for the shift to digital will sustain and e-commerce will grow further, which eventually will accelerate online transactions.
As for the security part, it is worth noting that Armenia is an exceptional country in terms of the low-risk level of fraud, however, as you have already mentioned recently there were also observed some alterations in this direction. Therefore, Visa’s role remains quite significant and we feel the necessity to do our best to keep Armenia both on track with cashless economic development and contribute to the maintenance of low rates of fraud. Going back to the results of our poll, I would like to note that almost 87% of the respondents have never been a victim of any payment fraud in Armenia, with 77% willing to have more information about secure payments and online shopping.
Could you please share with us what types of fraud are the most widespread around the globe and what Visa does to tackle the issue?
We can confidently say that the global pandemic has hugely contributed to fraudsters’ activation, as that period was characterized by a considerable increase in electronic payments. They got quite well adapted to the new reality, using malware, phishing, and other types of attacks to get access to individuals’ private information. Recent trends show that e-commerce remains the most affected area by attackers. I can tell you more, almost three-fourths of fraud and data breach cases identified by Visa, which mostly include social engineering and ransomware attacks, involved e-commerce merchants. Cybercriminals are actively targeting cryptocurrencies as well, with crypto bridge services also being attacked.
Notwithstanding such wrongdoings, Visa team on a daily basis monitors these processes and makes sure Visa’s network is protected from any kind of cyberattacks. Within the last five years, we invested over $9 billion in the security of our consumers, providing top-level payment security and making sure each transaction within our network remains reliable and secure. I would also like to highlight that protection of sensitive information at Visa is ensured by several key technological achievements, among which are tokenization and Verified by Visa technology. We are proud that our global network over the course of decades remains committed to providing one of the fastest, most secure, and most convenient services on the market.
Please, tell us more about the future activities and plans of Visa in Armenia.
Firstly, with great excitement, I would like to share that recently we celebrated the 20th anniversary of Visa’s presence in Armenia, which is a notable milestone not only for us but for the major stakeholders in the country as well. It is decades of fruitful work together with our partners to bring and introduce innovations and technologies that enable economies around the globe to thrive. Along with the celebration, we held a Visa Future of Payments Forum dedicated to this memorable cause and hosted more than 100 of our years-long partners and various bank representatives. During the forum, we recalled and recognized the achievements accomplished within the last 20 years and laid out future goals and key priorities for further cooperation.
As for our future goals, Visa is going to irrevocably continue providing Armenia with support in driving a cashless and inclusive economy, offering multiple contactless payment methods, and sharing its expertise for secure, safe, fast, and convenient payment solutions.
